Nebraska Football: Arik Gilbert draws rave review on first day of fall camp

The Nebraska football team might be waiting to see if Arik Gilbert can play in 2023, but he’s certainly looking like he’s ready to get going.

While Gilbert has not yet been cleared (and I’ll continue to think it’s ridiculous we’ve gotten all the way to fall camp without knowing if he will) he can absolutely practice. The hope is that all the preparation he’s going through at the moment will pay off if he does get cleared by the NCAA.

It can’t be easy to head into fall camp knowing you’re still waiting months after a waiver was filed. That waiver is needed because he’s transferred twice and the second time had nothing to do with a coach getting fired. It might not be easy to attend camp under that cloud, he’s already raised some eyebrows with the way he showed up.

The Omaha World-Herald got a look at the first 30 minutes of practice on Monday, which also happened to be the first day of preseason camp. Evan Bland and Sam McKewon had a couple of things stick out to them but Gilbert was right at the top of the list.

"“Nebraska tight end Arik Gilbert didn’t seem to have any rust. If one player reshaped his body over the summer, it was the former five-star recruit who is now on his fourth school and awaiting an NCAA waiver to play this fall. Gilbert has noticeably added muscle and lost extra weight headed into camp.”"

Nebraska football could have special weapon

It’s never a bad thing to hear that someone who already was considered a special talent has managed to reshape his body to be even more effective heading into what is likely his last year in college.

It’s likely that if Gilbert isn’t approved to play this season, he’ll be headed to the NFL either way. Someone who is viewed as being the prototypical type of tight end would be a pretty great weapon for Nebraska football this year.